'Go get a job!' Dr. Oz under fire for shaming 'able-bodied' Medicaid users

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

August 14, 2025 3:00PM ET


Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, disparaged “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients, alleging they spend hours each day watching television or engaging in other “leisure-time” activities instead of pursuing what he called their God-given desire to change the world. He asked why anyone would question that the government would not want to get people to be wealthy.

The vast majority of “able-bodied” people who use Medicaid, a government safety net medical insurance program that does not provide income to recipients, are already working at least one job. In the majority of families that use Medicaid, at least one adult is working a full-time job. The majority of Medicaid users are children, people living with disabilities, or the elderly, who are unable to work.

“You want people to actually get out of their homes and go do things,” Oz told CNBC on Thursday (video below). “An able-bodied person on Medicaid today watches about 6.1 hours of television, or just hangs out — leisure time.”

“That’s a lot of time,” Oz insisted, claiming his data is sound. “No one’s gonna be happy sitting at home 6.1 hours a day doing nothing,” he insisted.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/dr-oz-2673885452/

[Blues Heron]

1. These celebrities are so out of touch with everything and everybody. We should send him to South Sudan

[SouthBayDem]

10. Especially since Oz is famous BECAUSE

of people who have the time to “spend hours each day watching television” at 2pm or whenever his old talk show was on a local TV station.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. hem. a lot of us do work and hey stup, i am retired full medical. gett a real job.

[Midnight Writer]

3. Nobody is refusing to work so that can get that sweet Medicaid insurance.

No one is refusing to work so they can scoop up that 6 dollar a day SNAP food allowance.

No one is refusing to work because they get heating assistance or Meals On Wheels.

There is no study that shows Medicaid recipients watch TV 6.1 hours a day. I'd bet $100 on that.

[Karasu]

14. Anyone who's still a Republican in 2025 is so fucking stupid they almost certainly believe all of the above.

[Katcat]

4. Says the "man"

Sucking from the taxpayer teat

[tonekat]

5. This effin' guy

He still has no clue what CMS does. All he does is send out foofy "Notes From The Administrator" that reflect his lack of knowledge.
"Hey, lets go walk around the campus!"
Meanwhile, morale left the buildings back in January.

[rickyhall]

6. Work till you're dead.

I worked 55 years you scum sucking asshole. Have ever you worked, Cengiz?

[wolfie001]

7. I'm retired and I've turned "doing nothing" into my new full-time job

And disparage any and all republiCONs when I get the opportunity.

[Skittles]

12. heh, I remember when my boss asked me what I would be doing on my day off

"laying on the couch watching TV" I said

my day off was cancelled (a scheduling thing - boss said I "had no plans"

I said WTF, laying on the couch watching TV, THAT WAS MY PLAN! Yes INDEED.

[wolfie001]

15. LOL!!!

I have been trying to move a little bit more because, as the old adage goes, "Move it or lose it!" Cheers and enjoy!

[Skittles]

21. this one cracked me up

I had put in for the rare Sunday off (I always worked weekends) - boss came over and asked if I really needed that day off because some other folk "really" wanted it off - I said well, I was planning to lay around and do nothing. CANCELLED! he said......so I asked him, why does anyone need that Sunday off? "It's Easter Sunday", he said. Gawd I could be so clueless.

[Harker]

8. ...

not when they could be enjoying crudités.

[wolfie001]

16. "My wife was complaining about the price of her crudit"

I'll never forget that pathetic video clip. In his $20 million dollar mansion. What an ass.

*crudité won't go in the title of my reply. It keeps getting kicked back to "crudit". Dammit!!!

[Harker]

17. I haven't figured out how to avoid that, thus the ellipsis.

It was pathetic, alright. He could have used that old fashioned, simple term, "groceries", but who ever uses it?

[wolfie001]

18. Yep! Just a super duper rich a-hole

Poor Oprah created 2 certifiable monsters with this clown and Dr. Fill (in the blank) Dr. Sh7t?

[cstanleytech]

9. Oz the Asshole. NT

[Skittles]

11. look who is whining about people watching daytime TV

a former daytime TV hack

cannot make this stuff up

[area51]

13. Oz: "An able-bodied person on Medicaid today watches about 6.1 hours of television...."

I wish some reporter would ask Oz, "Did it hurt when you pulled out that lie from your ass?"

[Aristus]

22. And who the fuck says something like "6.1 hours"?

How is that even a thing? Does it sound more or less stupid than “six hours and six minutes”?

[DSandra]

19. "Get back to work, slave!"

Oz got to his position from people who stayed at home viewing his show, now he's chastising them just to show how "good" of a Republican he is. What a backstabber and evil opportunistic fuck.

[maxsolomon]

20. He's attacking hypotheticals. Par for the Republican course.

Straw men, straw women.